Eddie Murphy

More on forgiveness, but first I want to tell a story.

I was around 12 and I went to visit my brother at college. He let me stay up very late and, with his friends, watch Saturday Night Live. It was the first time I saw it and it blew me away. The thing I remember the most was a young black man pretending to be something like Mr. Rogers--except it wasn't. It was Eddie Murphy doing Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood. I fell hard for Eddie Murphy.

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/mister-robinsons-neighborhood/17wy40vod?cpkey=a22cd805-43dc-4883-962d-ef3b7ff8a46a%257c%257c%257c%257c

I remember laughing so hard. As the weeks passed, at home, I would creep to one of the TV rooms in my house, wayyyyy past my bedtime and watch Saturday Night Live. After Eddie Murphy left I watched but like you never forget your first Doctor Who, you never forget your first SNL cast.

A lot has been said about Eddie Murphy's awkward appearance on the SNL40 show. I don't know what was expected. Some say that he should have done stand-up.  Those who think so have never seen Eddie Murphy's stand-up, because if they did they would know that it is not prime-time appropriate--not in the least. He should have come out as Gumby?  I agree with the commenter that said it would be like expecting the High School Quarterback to come back 30 years later and throw a touchdown.

If you know some of the bad blood between Eddie Murphy and Lorne Michaels this article can catch you up.

What I think happened, I think that Eddie Murphy took the advice he probably gives to his children which is, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

As for me, I'll be waiting for Beverly Hills Cop 4 and looking forward to it.

Edited to add

Now we know that Eddie Murphy turned down a bit to play Cosby.  When you consider the history between those two--that was a pretty damn magnanimous thing to do.

#Microblog Monday - When the deed matters more than the art

A few days ago, my daughter did something which mimicked a scene from Bill Cosby's standup. Instead of posting it far and wide and laughing, I mourned, almost like I mourned a death, because I can't imagine being able to watch Mr. Cosby's art without thinking of Mr. Cosby's deeds

This seems to be a relatively new phenomenon. Few people, even Jews, have problems walking down the aisle to the Bridal Chorus written by Richard Wagner who was a notorious anti-semite and racist. No one is even suggesting removing Ty Cobb from the Baseball hall of fame. No one is suggesting that Ben Roethlisberger retire or be thrown out of football even though he has several women accusing him of rape. Is it because that Bill Cosby is black and these other three men are white?

I don't know. I can't even say what my own threshold is for ignoring the deeds of the artist to try to enjoy the art. I do know that several people crossed it. I no longer read the works of Orson Scott Card or Marion Zimmer Bradley (I actually removed all but one of her books from my collection). I can't watch Seinfeld with the same enthusiasm since the Michael Richards rant, ditto anything starring Mel Gibson, and now Bill Cosby.

I sometimes wish that I could go back to not knowing--but then my ignorance would be a problem. I don't have any answers--how do others handle this?